THE OLD HATRED
God used Ezekiel to Israel, Judah and the nations around them about the coming destruction. God was certainly longsuffering with His own people but in a sense He was likewise longsuffering with all of humanity. The case of Jonah brings this out. The people of Nineveh responded to the outreach of God through the prophet and repented. Yet, in time, God would destroy Nineveh, later. Noah preached for 120 years trying to reach his world. These cases and others show us a God who is patient and desires for men to change their ways. Even with the warnings from God, His people and the other nations around them failed to respond and therefore faced destruction.
The book of Ezekiel in part dealt with the sins of Ammon, Moab, Edom, Tyrus and the Philistines. In each case, God, through the prophet, revealed what it was He was going to do and why. This was not an unsigned letter of complaint. This was God telling His people and the nations around them, what was coming. The principle which is for all generations to consider is that whatever is sown is what is reaped (Galatians 6:7). These nations, including God’s people, were victimized by their choices to follow idolatry. Worshipping false gods is indeed a horror. What God reveals in His coming punishment was where serving false gods had led them.
In Ezekiel 25, one of the nations being discussed is the Philistines. Why is God going to punish the Philistines? I mean, after all, they did not have the written Word as did the Jews. Why then would God bring destruction to them? We are reminded that God has always held all men responsible (Romans 3:19-21). God always expected men to live a certain way even if they did not have written revelation from God (Romans 2:14). Those who engaged in different sins, knew that what they were doing was wrong (Romans 1:32). Those individuals knew they would face the wrath of God.
We then find in verse 15 of Ezekiel 25 what it was that the Philistines had done. Briefly stated, that acted in revenge, they took vengeance with a despiteful heart and they tried to destroy Israel from an old hatred. Their idolatry may very well have furnished the foundation for their existence. It was in their actions however, in which they demonstrated what happens when there is no real God to speak to man’s thinking. Their actions left the moral code and reached out to touch many generations with their evil hearts. Are there not good lessons we can learn from this account of the Philistines?
Revenge is striking back at someone who has injured you. It is that “getting even” which is so often portrayed in books and movies. When Jesus was here He was laying the groundwork of the kind of kingdom that He wanted His people to become. His law was that you treat others the way you want to be treated (Matthew 7:12). Such a law would destroy the concept of one seeking to get even because of an injustice done. You treat me wrong, then, in turn I will treat you wrong. Such an attitude was foreign to our Lord and to the kingdom that He established. His prayer in death was for His enemies that God would forgive them. A forgiveness that could not take place until the will of Christ was probated in Acts 2.
The Philistines operated their vengeance with a despiteful heart. They not only sought to get even but did so without any concern for what was just. Sometimes an individual may “feel” they have the right to strike back because of all that has been done. The Philistines had no need for such an evaluation. Their heart was despising of the nation of Israel and they were going to do all they could to wipe them out. It reminds me in a small way of the enemies of Jesus passing at the foot of His cross and striking out at him with their words. They were not satisfied with His dying, they were doing all they could to let Him know how much they hated Him.
Here is sad commentary on the Philistines and others as well. The reason they sought to destroy Israel was for an old hatred. Matthew Henry’s commentary states that it was a perpetual hatred. In either case generation after generation of Philistines grew up hating Israel. Not for present injuries but injuries over all the years.
When our hearts are filled with such “old hatreds”, we need to be careful that we do not pass that on to the next generation after us. The events of Saul and David no doubt were rehearsed over and over again as each new generation came on the scene. The solution for us is as Paul declared, forget the things that are past and press on to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13,14). If we do that, then old hatreds will soon die because what keeps them alive is now dead.